Difference Between U.S. and Canadian Housing Markets

According to a report in Friday’s Post, the Office of the Superintendant of Financial Institutions is looking into the impact of foreign investment on Canadian real estate -which has reportedly been a factor in Vancouver, and recently featured a $28-million condo purchase in Toronto.

There is an almost startling difference between the state of housing markets north and south of the 49th parallel. The latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller housing survey showed that U.S. home prices fell 4.2% in the first quarter, extending the fall in house prices to eight months. By contrast, the latest Canadian figures suggest that while the volume of sales was down in the early months of this year, average prices in April were 8% up on last year. The average price of a house in Canada in April was $372,544, more than $100,000 above the U.S. figure.

For the moment, therefore, those thinking of buying or selling should perhaps be more concerned about the future of price levels than commission rates, although the latter are certainly also an issue.